README.md

node-dronestream

Requirements

You'll need a decent and current browser and some cpu horsepower.
This code uses web-sockets and the incredibly awesome
Broadway.js to render the video frames
in your browser using a WebGL canvas.

How to use

Please see the http.createServer and Express 3.0 examples in the 'examples' dir.
You attach the stream to your server like this:

// in node://// note that the 'server' object points to a server instance and NOT an express app.require("dronestream").listen(server);
// if your drone is on a different IPrequire("dronestream").listen(server, { ip:"192.168.2.155" });

We serve the client in the same manner as Socket.IO. Add a reference to
/dronestream/nodecopter-client.js in your template. Then attach the stream to a DOM node:

<!-- on the client -->
<scriptsrc="/dronestream/nodecopter-client.js"></script>
<script>// video canvas will auto-size to the DOM-node, or default to 640*360 if no size is set.newNodecopterStream(document.getElementById("droneStream"));</script>

How it works

The drone sends a proprietary video feed on 192.168.1.1 port 5555. This is
mostly a h264 baseline video, but adds custom framing. These frames are parsed
and mostly disposed of. The remaining h264 payload is split into NAL units and
sent to the browser via web sockets.

In the browser broadway takes care of the rendering of the WebGL canvas.

Status

Node-dronestream has gained some stability in the last release. It attempts
to recover lost connections to the drone, and it handles multiple clients,
disconnections, etc. See "How to use" for API.

Thanks

Triple high fives to Felix 'felixge' Geisendörfer for getting the whole
NodeCopter movement started and being extremely helpful in the process of
getting this together.

André 'zoddy' Kussmann for supplying the drone and allowing me to keep
hacking on it, even when he had to cancel the NodeCopter event for himself.